Glottalized consonants in Oaxaca Chontal

Abstract

Lowland Oaxaca Chontal, a language generally classified as Hokan and hence related to Yuman and Pomo languges, is now spoken by only a small percentage of the Chontal people who live on the Pacific coast of Oaxaca state, Mexico. Recordings were made of seven speakers in their 60’s to 80’s in December 2003. The language has a series of glottalized obstruents some of which which vary in production between fricative and affricate realizations. Our data show the labio-dental and lateral are the most likely to have fricative realizations, the coronals are regularly affricates and the velar is regularly a stop. These segments are contrastive but morphologically related to the voiceless fricatives of the language. This is demonstrated by one common plural formation process which adds glottalization to a final consonant (e.g. /apix/ ‘‘stone,’’ /apik’/ ‘‘stones’’). After a vowel the same morpheme is realized as a glottal stop (e.g. /u/ ‘‘eye,’’ /u/ ‘‘eyes’’). However, not all sequences of voiceless fricative + glottal stop are realized as glottalized obstruents (e.g. /ase/ ‘‘atole’’). Chontal also has glottalized nasals and approximants. As in other languages the accompanying glottal constriction is variable in degree and timing.